Journey to the West – Chapter 1.3

While he was looking around, he suddenly heard a voice coming from deep in the woods. He hurried through the woods toward the sound and found a person singing. 

“Watching chess, the axe handle rots.¹ Thwack, thwack, I’m chopping wood. I walk through valleys at the edge of clouds and trade my wood for wine. I laugh out loud. In autumn I walk the frosty blue path, lie under a pine facing the moon, and sleep through til dawn. In these old woods, I scale the cliffs. I roam the mountains and to cut the withered vines. I gather a load, sing all the way to town, and exchange it for three liters of rice. I don’t haggle; I sell at a modest price. I don’t plot or scheme, I don’t strive for fame. It’s quiet contentment that prolongs life. The people I meet are immortals or Daoists, gathering to expound the Yellow Court.”

Hearing this, the monkey king happily said to himself, “Ah, so this is where the immortals have been hiding.” He looked closer and saw it was a woodcutter chopping wood with his axe. He was wearing a hat woven from dried leaves of young bamboo. His clothes were plain and made from cotton yarn. His thin belt was silk from an old silkworm. On his feet were shoes of dried grass. He held a steel axe and a hank of hemp rope. He was cutting dried branches from an old pine tree.² 

The monkey king approached and called out: “Master immortal, your disciple greets you.” The woodcutter dropped his axe and turned around quickly, replying “You’ve got the wrong man. I’m a humble man, with not even enough to wear or eat. I’m no immortal.”³ The monkey king said “If you’re not an immortal, why are you speaking like one?” The woodcutter said “How am I speaking like one?” The monkey king said “Just now I came into the woods, and heard you saying ‘The people I meet are immortals or Daoists, gathering to expound the Yellow Court.’ The Yellow Court is an incantation of Daoist virtue. How can you not be an immortal?”

The woodcutter laughed: “I’ll be honest with you. This song is called Fragrant Hall and an immortal taught it to me. That immortal lives close to my home. He saw that my life is hard and I am often troubled. He told me to sing it whenever I am worried. It distracts me from my troubles and keeps me awake. Just now I was thinking about not having enough to eat tonight, so I was singing it. I didn’t expect you to overhear me.”

The monkey king said: “If an immortal is your neighbor, why don’t you become his disciple and learn the trick to immortality?” The woodcutter said “My whole life has been hard. When I was 8 or 9 years old, my father died, leaving my mother a widow. I don’t have siblings, it’s just me, so I have to work day and night. I can’t leave my aging mother. My land is barren, so we don’t have enough to eat or wear. I can only cut two bundles of  wood, sell it in the marketplace for a few pennies, and use that to buy rice. I just make sure we have enough tea and rice, and take care of my mother. That’s why I can’t become a seeker of the Way.”

Hearing this, the monkey king had no choice but to bid the woodcutter goodbye. Leaving the forest, he followed the path over a hill, and after walking 7 or 8 li, came to a cave dwelling.  Mist drifted through the mountain like smoke. The light filtering through colored the surrounding cypress and bamboo in rainbows. Fragrance from flowers filled the air. The door hung with colorful brocade. Moss covered the sheer cliff face. Cranes called nearby and phoenixes soared overhead. Black monkeys and white deer walked in the shadows. Golden lions and jade elephants rested unseen.⁷

The cave door was shut. It was silent, and no one was around. Looking around, he saw a stone plaque, 30 feet high and 8 feet wide that proclaimed Lingtai Mountain, Three Star Cave. The monkey king was overjoyed and said, “The people here are indeed honest. This mountain and cave really do exist.” He watched for a long time, but was afraid to knock.⁸ So he jumped into a nearby pine tree and began to eat pine nuts and play.

After a short while, there was a creak, and the cave door opened. An immortal youth walked out, with a curious yet charming face, unlike ordinary youths. He had two top-knots, one on each side of his head, bound with silk. The sleeves on his robe were wide and flowing. He had a detached expression, untouched by both emotion and age.

The immortal youth came outside and called in a loud voice, “Who is out here making a ruckus?” The monkey king jumped down from the tree and bowed, saying “Immortal youth, I am a disciple here to seek the Way. I would never dare to make a ruckus.” The immortal youth laughed and said, “Are you a seeker of the way?” The monkey king said “I am.” The youth said. “My master has just come out and is about to begin a lecture. He didn’t give a reason, he just told me to come open the door. He said, ‘There is someone outside here to seek the Way. Go and invite him in.’ I guess that must be you?” The monkey king said “That’s me. That’s me.” The youth said “Follow me inside.” 

The monkey king straightened his clothes and followed the youth deep into the cave to find rows upon rows of dark pavilions and jasper towers, pearly temples and shell palaces. Inside, they walked through endless quiet chambers and secluded rooms, until they came before a jade platform. Master Puti sat upon the platform. Below on either side, there were 30 disciples standing in two rows. 

As soon as the Handsome Monkey King saw him, he knelt and touched his head to the floor again and again.⁹ He said, “Master! Master! Your disciple exalts you.” The patriarch said, “Where are you from? Tell me where you have come from, and your name, before you kneel.” The monkey king said, “Your disciple comes from the Shuilian Cave on Huaguo Mountain, in the kingdom of Aolai, on the Eastern Continent.”¹⁰ The patriarch replied, “Throw him out! He is a liar void of morals, and no seeker of the Way.” The monkey king quickly bowed again and said, “I’m an honest man. I’m not telling lies.” 

The patriarch said, “If you’re honest, why do you say, ‘the Eastern Continent’? Between here and there, there are two oceans and the Southern Continent. How could you have come here?” The monkey king said, “Your student crossed the oceans on a raft and wandered all over, for over ten years, eventually ending up here.” The patriarch said, “If you came here gradually, we’ll leave it at that. What is your surname?” The monkey king said, “What surname?”¹¹ The patriarch said, “What were your parents called?” The monkey king said, “I don’t have any parents.” The patriarch said, “If you don’t have parents, are you saying you grew on a tree?” The monkey king said, “Not on a tree, but from a stone. I only know that Huaguo Mountain had a divine stone. It split after many years, and I was born.”

At this, the patriarch smiled to himself, and said, “So. You were born from the heaven and the earth. Get up and let me see you walk.” The monkey king jumped up and swaggered around a couple of times. The patriarch laughed. “You look like a pine nut-eating sun-monkey. I shall give you the surname ‘Sun’.”¹²

The patriarch said, “In my order there are twelve characters used to name pupils, and you have joined the tenth generation of pupils, named with the tenth character, ‘Wu’. How about I give you the name ‘Wukong’?”¹³ The monkey king laughed and said, “Fantastic! From today onward I will be called Wukong!” And that was how a king with no name became Wukong. 

Next time, on to Chapter 2!

^{1 This is a reference to a Chinese legend about a guy who watched a chess game for a century and his axe handle rotted. Think ‘ended up in Faerieland’ or ‘Spirited Away’ vibes. ↩}

^{2 He’s a commoner with commoner clothes. ↩}

^{3 He’s trying to say ‘I’m not good enough to be an immortal.’ but this kind of Asian humility really doesn’t translate well to modern English. ↩}

^{4 I’ve shortened both of these names. Originally, they are Lingtai Fangcun Mountain and Xieyue Sanxing Cave. Prof. Yu translates them as ‘Mountain of Mind and Heart’ and ‘Cave of Slanting Moon and Three Stars’. ↩}

^{5 One li is half a kilometer, so 7-8 li is around 2 miles. Initially I converted this, but later on some numbers are symbolic and it wouldn’t be the same in km or miles. ↩}

^{6 There is really no English equivalent to this concept. Senpai is honestly the closest and also most widely known word to use here. ↩}

^{7 I’m sure you’re starting to see a pattern in all of these descriptions. The author is just describing a ~magical place~ ↩}

^{8 You would be socially awkward too, if you were a monkey. ↩}

^{9 ou may know this style of bow as a kowtow. I don’t like this word, because it has the connotation of ‘groveling’ in English now, whereas it should be a sign of utmost respect. Also, it sounds like cow. ↩}

^{10 Descriptions of places in Chinese starts with the biggest, and then goes toward the smallest. So this list would start with ‘Eastern Continent’ and end with ‘Shuilian Cave’. ↩}

^{11 I’m leaving out a whole bit here about how the monkey king misunderstands the word ‘surname’ – xing – for ‘temper’, which is also xing. It doesn’t make sense in English, it’s not funny, and it’s not really important. ↩}

^{12 There is no such thing as a sun-monkey. Master Puti is saying that he looks like a macaque, a ‘husun’. I’ve tried to make this connection work in English. ↩}

^{13 In the original there is a list of all twelve characters, which I’ve left out here. They are all religiously significant, and I couldn’t explain them if I tried. ↩}